Gluten-Free, Vegan Southern Fried Chicken in the Air-Fryer

Ingredients

Vegan Chicken Filets
• 6 cups of water
• 2 Low-Sodium Not-Chick'n Bouillon Cubes
• 1 8-ounce package of soy curls
• 10 tablespoons chickpea flour
• 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons liquid aminos
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt (smoked salt is nice here, if you have it)
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• a couple dashes of cayenne pepper
Coating
• 1/3 cup unsweetened nondairy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup aquafaba
• 1 or 2 tablespoons hot sauce or sriracha sauce
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (or a gluten-free flour blend. I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour)
• 1/4 cup fine cornmeal
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (use gluten-free if necessary)
• 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
• oil spray

Instructions

1. In small pot (roughly 2.5 quarts), combine the water and the two bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, and whisk until the cubes are completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add the soy curls. Let them soak for about 15 minutes. Drain the water from the soy curls thoroughly.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Transfer the soy curls to a food processor. Add the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, liquid aminos, spices, salt, and pepper. Pulse 8 to 10 times until you have a well-combined chunky, sticky texture. If the flours aren't fully incorporated, use a spoon to help stir it in. You don't want the mixture to get too mushy.
4. Using a 1/3 measuring cup, scoop the mixture into the prepared baking sheets and shape into 3-inch wide patties (I made mine slightly oblong) or whatever shape you prefer. If you use smaller than 1/3 cup per piece (say you're making chicken strips, for example, you will need to decrease your baking time to prevent drying out).
5. Bake the patties/filets for 20 minutes, flipping them once halfway through. Remove from the heat.
6. In a small shallow bowl, combine the milk and apple cider vinegar, stir and let rest for 5 minutes while it curdles. Then add the aquafaba and hot sauce and stir until combined.
7. In another shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, panko bread crumbs, and cajun seasoning. Generously spray the inside of your air-fryer basket with oil. Set aside.
8. One by one, put a patty in the liquid mixture until fully coated before transferring to the flour coating bowl. Toss until fully coated. Gently place the patty in the basket of the air-fryer. If you have a large air-fryer, you can probably fit about six filets in one batch. Or if you have a wire rack to place inside your air-fryer basket, you can do four on the bottom, four on the rack. A small air-fryer will probably fit about four per batch. Repeat until you've filled your air-fryer basket. Once they're all in, spray each one generously with oil.
9. Cook them in the air-fryer with the fried chicken setting (my GoWise air-fryer does this for 20 minutes at 375), flipping once halfway through and respraying them with oil before returning the basket to the air-fryer. Repeat the process for the remaining patties.
10. Serve them immediately or you can refrigerate them for about a week or freeze them for up to a month. To reheat them, let them thaw if they've been frozen. Otherwise, place them in an air-tight container with the lid slightly ajar and microwave for one minute. Then place them in the air-fryer basket, spray with oil, and cook at the same setting but for 5 minutes, flipping halfway through. Enjoy!